The Center for American Rights (CAR) has filed a formal complaint with the FCC against WCBS-TV New York for engaging in significant and intentional "news distortion" in the broadcast of Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation’ and "60 Minutes" on October 5 and 6, 2024.
The conservative nonprofit CAR filed the complaint on Oct. 16. Prior to that, it had filed complaints against ABC News with both the FCC and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regarding ABC’s handling of the Sept. 10 presidential debate between Democratic candidate Harris and former Presidnent Donald Trump, the Republican candidate.
The editing of the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris has drawn fire from Republicans and conservative commentators because CBS aired different responses from Harris on that show and on “Face the Nation” to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The controversy and the complaint by CAR has also drawn comment from Republican FCC commissioner Nathan Simington, a Trump appointee, who gave an interview to Fox News Digital on the subject.
"The commission acts on complaints about distortion, not complaints about editorial positions,” Simington told Fox News Digital. “And so, what this claim is alleging is that an act of distortion took place. And so, if you look at the FCC statute -- Section 326 of our statute says that the commission doesn't have the power of censorship over broadcast signals and the commission has generally summarized its own position as saying that we need documentary evidence of deliberate distortion that would be sufficiently strong to require an inquiry."
"And in fact, in a prior proceeding on this matter, we gave the example of substituting a yes answer to one question or a no answer to an entirely different question," he continued. "So, the Commission has certainly contemplated the possibility of distortionary reporting taking place via splicing. That's one reason I don't think that this complaint is facially ridiculous, and it would not be inappropriate for the commission to take it up."
FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel, who has repeatedly criticized attempts to revoke broadcast station licenses based on political speech, has opposed efforts to take away CBS station licenses over the editing of the Harris interview. On Oct. 10, she issued a statement after repeated calls by former President Trump to revoke the licenses of broadcast stations for political reasons.
“While repeated attacks against broadcast stations by the former President may now be familiar, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored,” she said. “As I’ve said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy. The FCC does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage.”
Rosenworcel has also previously spoken out against efforts by political candidates or government officials to influence the content shared by broadcast stations. Following the Presidential debate in September, she rejected calls by Trump to revoke ABC’s licenses. She has also warned against threats by Florida state officials against broadcast stations.
In its FCC complaint, CAR said that CBS aired conflicting responses in the two broadcasts when the same question was posed to Harris regarding Netanyahu.
These discrepancies, CAR argued, amount to deliberate news distortion—a violation of FCC rules governing broadcasters' public interest obligations. The complaint demands CBS release the unedited transcript of the interview to set the record straight.
“This isn’t just about one interview or one network,” CAR President Daniel Suhr said. “This is about the public’s trust in the media on critical issues of national security and international relations during one of the most consequential elections of our time. When broadcasters manipulate interviews and distort reality, it undermines democracy itself. The FCC must act swiftly to restore public confidence in our news media.”
CAR has also filed complaints against ABC News with both the FCC and FEC for what it claims are “clear sponsor favoritism in the Harris-Trump debate broadcast by ABC News on September 10, 2024.” In that complaint, CAR argued, “ABC’s moderators unfairly targeted former President Trump while providing Vice President Harris a free pass on factual inaccuracies.”
The FCC complaint against WCBS-TV can be found here.
TV Tech has reached out to CBS for a comment on the complaint.
